Protecting wrapper for automobile doors



June 23, 1953 M. P. WILLIAMS RBOTECTING WRAPPER FOR AUTOMOBILE DOORS Filed March 20. 1951 INVENTOR.

M/cwniz A mu Mms Y A 77 01?! VS Patented June 23, 1953 PROTECTING WRAPPER FOR AUTOMOBILE DOORS Michael P. 'Williams, Ferndale, Mich., assignor to Cadillac Products, Inc., Ferndale, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application March 20, 1951, Serial N 0. 216,550

3 Claims. (Cl. 229-87) This invention relates to protective wrappings for shipping and storing articles and particularly to a protective cushioning pad for wrapping automobile doors for shipment and storage.

In the past it has been a problem to provide protective coverings for shipping articles and particularly articles of irregular formation having sharp projecting edges which are easily damaged in transit. The protective mediums heretofore used have been relatively expensive and bulky and required considerable time to apply and remove the medium.

An important object of this invention is to provide an improved protective covering or packing pad for irregularly shaped articles which is capable of being manufactured at low cost and quickly applied and removed from the article with a minimum amount of labor. Another important object of the invention is to provide an improved covering or wrapper for protecting articles in shipment and in storage which is composed of paper material and is flexible and bendable to conform to the shape of the article and. which is tear resistant and difficultly penetrable when engaged by foreign bodies. A further important object of the invention is to provide an improved wrapper or packing especially designed to protect automobile doors when in shipment or in storage and so shaped as to preserve the finished exteriors of the automobile doors and to shield the relatively sharp edges of the doors from damage.

In carrying out the invention, theprotective wrapper or covering comprises a flexible base sheet preferably formedof creped paper or the like which is not only tear resistant but has an elasticity which enables it to stretch and give when contacted by foreign bodies. Superimposed on the base sheet and located substantially centrally thereon is a body or pad of less dimension than the sheet in the form of a bag containing a filler of fibrous material, such as .excelsior, which builds up the covering 130 a relatively thick content but is capable of being flexed or bent with the base sheet for wrapping around the corners of the automobile door or othersimilar article for which the wrapper is intended. Mounted on one of the projecting side margins of the base sheet is a member formed of paper material which is relatively thick and resistant to impression. This member is preferably formed of a laminated as- 'sembly of corrugated cardboard strips having the plane of the strips extending perpendicularly to the plane of the base sheet. The member is preferably adhesively or otherwise secured to the base sheet to form an integral assembly therewith in order that it may be conveniently applied to and removed from an automobile door. The corrugated cardboard member is located on the base sheet and is of such a dimension that when applied to an automobile door it will be positioned against the bottom side of the door rearwardly of the depending flange thereof.

Various other objects, advantages and meritorious features of the invention will become more fully apparent from the following speciflcation, appended claims and accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a preferred form of the invention especially designed for protecting automobile doors in shipment and showing the layout of the parts of the wrapper prior to assembly on an automobile'door,

Fig. 2 is an inside view of an automobile door showing the wrapper of this invention installed thereon,

. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross sectional view through the door of Fig. 2 taken along line 3-3 thereof,

Fig. 4 is a horizontal cross sectional view through the door of Fig. 2 taken along line 4-4 thereof,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a side portion of the door of Fig. 2 taken along line 5-5 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the bottom portion of the door and wrapper thereof illustrating the manner in which the corrugated member protects the bottom edge of the door. I

The drawing illustrates a preferred form of the invention and its manner of attachment to an automobile door. It is understood that the arrangement of the parts illustrated in the preferred embodiment of the invention may be varied or altered depending upon the construction of the automobile door or other similar article for which the wrapper is designed. The covering 'or wrapper comprises a flexible base sheet l0, preferably formed of creped paper, which will normally be of rectangular formation illustrated in Fig. l. Mounted centrally on the base sheet in and being secured thereto by adhesion or other suitable means is a pad l2. As

shown in Fig. 1, the pad is of less dimension thanthe base sheet so that the marginal portions of the latter project beyond all four sides of the pad. The pad is preferably a bag'or sleeve composed of kraft paper shaped into the form of an elongated relatively flat tube. The opposite ends of the tube of which the pad is formed are closed and sealed by paper tape such as that indicated at I4 in Fig. 1. Within the interior of each bag or sleeve there is provided a fibrous mass of material, such as excelsior, which is indicated at It in the sectional views of the drawing. The exceisior body fills out each bag or sleeve and is of a thickness greater than the. combined thicknesses of the base sheet and the wallsforming the bag. However, it is preferred that the thickness of the excelsior filler l6 be limited to such an extent that it may be readily flexed with the bag walls and the base. sheet for partial. wrapping around the edges of the door or other article protected, as will .belater. describednin. connection with Figs. 4 and-.5;

In the illustrated form of the invention, the base sheet or layer 10 is preferablyapproximately 60 lb. by weight paper and creped- 25%-t'o-30%. The kraft paper making up the bag or-sleeves I2 is preferably approximately 30 lb. weight materialalthough it.may be lighter or heavier if desired. The exc'elsior'fill'erl B formsacnshion'and because of the nature of'the material and itslim- .ited thickness it may be readily bent or folded with the base sheetiand'the' walls .of'the bag.

As previously described, 'the'excelsior filledbag I2 is superimposed onthebase sheet I and secured by adhesion thereto. The bag is :of a smaller size than the base sheet and when centrally located thereon, astshown in Fig. '1, the marginal portions of the ba'sesheet project" therebeyond.

Mounted on the lower" projecting marginalpor- .tion 18 of the base layer [.0 and on the same side thereof as the bag 1'2 is anelon'gated relatively rigid member. 20 .whichrextends approximately the length of thebag andisdisposedin slightly spaced parallel relationship thereto as shown in Fig. 1. The member 20'is formed of paper material and ispreferably composed of alaminated assembly of alternate flat and corrugated paper strips as shown at 22 in Fig. 6. The crests. :of the corrugated strips are'adhesivelyisecured to the fiat strips as in conventional corrugated paper board construction. The corrugated paper board member is mounted on the base sheet with the plane of the alternate flat and corrugated paper strips extending perpendicular to the plane'of the'base sheet. .Inrthis manner, the member .20 is capable of resisting strong compressional forces or strains imposed substantially perpendicular to 'the plane .of the base sheet. As hereinafter 'describedin more detail, the height of the corrugated cardboard member is greater than the depth oft-he bottom flange of the automobile door.

The door protective covering-is provided on the uppermarginal portion 24 thereof with apa'ir'of laterally disposed cuts or slits 26-46 which ext'end parallel to one anothertandperpendicular to the upper edge of the'base sheet in. The slits open out through the upper edge of "the base sheet I!) and'terminateshortbf the bag l2. The two slits 25-26 cooperate together to form a flap portion -28 which, as described hereinaftenfis capable of being folded through the window opening of the automobile door upon which the protective covering-is installed.

Figs. 2 to 6 inclusive show the installation of the protective covering or wrapper of the present invention upon an automobiledoor. The door is generally indicated at 30 in'Flgp2. 'It maybe formed as-shown of a large front panel 32 and a rear panel 34,'the two panel sections being spaced from one another as best shown in Fig.4. The

back panel 34 of the door has a lateral dimension less than the front panel 32 and is provided with narrow oppositely disposed side wall sections 3633 which connect the back panel to the front panel 32. The side wall sections 36-36 are disposed inwardly of the front panel 32 and their outer extremities are bent. .tofollow the front panel to form therewith. the laterally projecting flanges 3838 on the opposite sides of the door. The back panel 34 is provided with a narrow forwardly extending bottom wall section All which serves to connect the back panel to the front panel. The bottom wall section 40 is disposed on a level above the .lower edge of the front panel andlitsouter extremity may be bent downwardly together with. the. bottom portion of the front panel to form a downwardly projecting flange 42 on the door. 'Theabutting portions of the wall sections 36-35 and 40 are usually welded to the front panel 32 to form-a hollow interior for the door. It is understood that automobile door constructions vary, but; in .most conventional auto.- mobile doors the. side flanges 38-38 and the bottom flange 42 result: from: whatever construction is followed.

As in conventional automobile door constructions,'theupperend-of the door frame 39 is provided with an opening 44,.shown in Figs. 2 and 3 which is'normally' closed by a window-pane. The door is provided in its hollow interior with a conventional handle operated appliance for raising and lowering thewindow.

When installed on an automobile door, the pad sideof the protective coveringmaterial is brought up against the exteriorly finished outer or front side of the panel 32. Thepad lz preferably has a vertical dimension substantially' equal to if not slightly greater 'than. the vertical dimension of the outside'panel 32-of'the door. The pad I2 preferably has alateral dimension greater than the transverse dimension of thefrontside 32 of the door-so that the opposite side portions of the pad may be rolled orcurled around the side flanges'3838' in the final. assembled position of the cover onthe 'door as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The longitudinal dimension of the corrugated cardboard member 20 is preferably longer than the bottom-wall section so that when installed its opposite end portions46-46 may be folded upwardly around the lower corners of the door as shown in"Fig.'2. After the covering material has been brought up flat against the front side of the door with the pad [2 interposed between the front panel, and thebacking-sheet I0,'the upper 'flap portion 28 .of'the base sheet H] is folded :inwardly through the window opening and allowed to fall downwardly along the inside of the door as shown in Figs.2 and 3.

' 'Theprojecting side margins-of the base sheet I!) together with the opposite side edge portions of'thepad l2 are'folded around the flanges 33-38 of the door as best shown in Figs. 4'and 5. The folded marginal portions of the base sheet may be. brought around to the back side of the door in overlapping "relation'to the flap portion 28 as indicated in Fig. 2. The bottom portion of the protectiveicovering material is folded around the bottom flange of the door and relatively flat against the back side :of the rear panel 34. This will bring the corrugated-cardboard member 20 against the back side of the flange 52 and into abutting engagement "with the bottom wall 45 in the manner shown in Figs. 3 and 6.

{The relationship of the cardboardmember 2G to the bottom portion of the door is best illustrated in Fig. 6. The planes of the alternate fiat and corrugated strips 22 of the member 23 extend perpendicular to the wall til and as previously mentioned are able to withstand considerable crushing pressures or strains imposed thereon. Moreover, as best shown in Fig. 6, the vertical dimension of the corrugated member 23 is such that it extends downwardly beyond the lower edge of the flange d2 of the door. In this manner, the door may be supported in up right position on the corrugated member 23 for shipment or storage and the load and any stresses imposed thereon are taken directly by the member.

After the protective covering has been installed upon the automobile door in'this manner, it is secured to the door by an suitable means such as the fiat flexible metal straps 43 indicated in Fig. 2. Two such straps may extend through the indow opening it of the door and secure the top and bottom sections of the covering material to the door. Two more of these straps so may extend transversely to the door securing side margins of the covering material thereof. In lieu of metal straps, theprotective covering may be secured to the door by wire or rope in a simi-- lar manner as that illustrated in Fig. 2.

What I claim is:

A cushioning pad assembly for protecting articles in shipment comprising, in combination, a flexible and stretchable sheet of paper forming the base layer of the assembly, a relatively flat bag of tear resistant paper entirely surrounding and enclosing a relatively thins. mass of fibrous material, said bag being secured to the upper sur ace of the base layer and being so disposed thereon that at least one marginal ortion of the base layer projects beyond one edge of the bag, and a member secured to the upper surface of said projecting marginal portion in spaced relation to the bag and composed of corrugated cardboard strips compactly assembled together.

2. A cushioning pad assembly for protecting articles in shipment comprising, in combination, a flexible and stretchable sheet of paper forming the base layer of the assembly, a relatively fiat bag of tear resistant paper entirely surrounding and enclosing a relatively thicl; mass of fibrous material, said bag being secured to the upper surface of the base layer and being so dimension ally proportioned with respect to the base layer that at least one marginal portion of the latter projects beyond one side edge of the bag, and a relatively rigid member secured to the upper surface of said projecting marginal portion and extending in spaced substantially parallel rela tion to the adjacent edge of the bag, said member being composed of alternate strips of fiat and corrugated cardboard paper extending perpendicular to the plane of the base layer.

3. A cushioning pad assembl for protecting articles in shipment comprising, in combination, a flexible and stretchable sheet of paper forming the base layer of the assembly, a relatively flat bag of tear resistant paper entirely surrounding and enclosing a relatively thick mass of fibrous material, said bag being secured to the upper surface of the base layer and being so dimensionally proportioned with respect to the base layer that at least two opposite marginal portions of the latter project beyond the opposite side edges of the bag, one of said marginal portions being provided with laterally spaced apart parallel slits forming a central flap portion, and a relatively rigid member secured to the upper surface of the opposite marginal portion of the base layer and extending in spaced parallel relation to the adjacent edge of the bag, said member being composed of corrugated cardboard strips compactly assembled together and extending perpendicularly to the plane of the base layer.

4. A cushioning pad assembly for protecting articles in shipment comprising. in combination; a flexible sheet of paper forming the base layer of the assembly, a relatively flat yielding bag having the walls thereof formed of tear resistant paper and having the interior thereof filled with a relatively thick mass of yieldable material, said bag being of less size than said base layer and being secured to the central portion of one side of the base layer, and an elongated relatively rigid member secured to another portion of the same side of the base layer and extending in spaced substantially parallel relation to the adjacent edge of the bag, said member being formed of corrugated cardboard strips extending in planes perpendicular to the plane of the base layer and capable of resisting compressional forces directed perpendicularly toward the base layer.

5. A cushioning pad assembly for protecting an automobile door comprising, in combination, a flexible and stretchable sheet of paper forming the base layer of the assembly, a relatively flat bag of tear resistant paper entirely surrounding and enclosing a relatively thick mass of yieldable material, said bag having a dimension less than that of the base sheet and being secured .to the central portion of the upper surface of the latter so that at least two opposite marginal portions of the base sheet project beyond the opposite side edges of the bag, one of said marginal portions having a pair of laterally spaced apart slits extending substantially parallel to one another and forming a flap adapted to be folded within the window opening of an automobile door, and a relatively rigid member of cardboard material secured to the upper surface of the opposite marginal portion of the base layer and extending in spaced substantial parallel relation to the adjacent edge of the bag, said member adapted to abut the bottom side of the automobile door to which the assembly is applied and serve as a load supporting member for the automobile door.

6. A cushioning pad assembly for protecting an automobile door comprising, in combination, a flexible and stretchable sheet of paper forming the base layer of the assembly, a relatively thick bag of tear resistant paper entirely surrounding and enclosing a relatively thick mass of fibrous material, said bag having a dimension less than that of the base sheet and being secured to the central portion of the upper surface of the latter so that at least two opposite marginal portions of the base sheet project beyond the opposite side edges of the bag, one of said marginal portions having a pair of laterally spaced apart slits extending substantially parallel to one another and forming a flap adapted to be folded within the window opening of an automobile door, and an elongated relatively rigid member secured .to the upper surface of the opposite marginal portion of the base layer and extending in spaced substantially parallel relation to the adjacent edge of the has, said member comprising a laminated assembly of alternately flat and corrugated cardboard strips extending perpendicularly to the plane of the base layer and adapted to abut the aecaoao 17 underside-roifrthe :automobile door to :serve :as .a load. sustaining support theretor.

'7.-A protective wrapping ..for .an automobile door comprising, in combination, arflexible sheet of crepedpaper forming the v base layerand having a dimension greater.thanthe body portionof an automobile door, a-bag. of kraftpaperentirely surrounding and, enclosing arelatively thick. mass of.fibrous material, said bag being of, less dimension than said base layer andabeingsecured-to the central. portion of the base layer sothat marginal portions of the, latter project. from all four side edges of .thebag, .one ofsaidmarginal projecting ,portionsbfing provided-with .a ;pair of laterally spaced substantially parallel slits :extending from the, adjacentedge-of the base layer and terminating.shortnofthelbag, said slitsicoopcrating ,to form a central flap in, saidlmarginal projecting portion which is-adapted to rberfolded into the windowopeningof ail-automobile door upon which. the wrapping applied, ,and an elongated member. secured to the upper surface of the marginalprojectirig p rtion opposite to said slitted marginal portion and extending slightly spaced substantially ,parallel relation to the adjacent side edge of the bag, said member being .a laminatedassembly of alternate flat and corrugatedcardboard stripsextendingperpendicular to the plane of thebaselayer and rising to a height greater than ,the depth of the bottom flange of .an automobile .door 50 .as to .take the loadof the vdoor when-supportedin uprightposition.

VA u hi nin Dad assembly for protecting an automobile .door comprising, in combination, afiexible sheet. of paper forming .the base layer of the assembly, a relatively flat and relatively thickyieldable pad havinganoverall dimension less than that of 'the base sheet secured to a central portion of the uppersurface of the latter so that at least two opposite marginal portions of the base sheet project beyond the opposite side edges of the pad, one of said marginal portionshavin Spaced. apart slits disposed within vthe projected lateral. margins of said pad and forming a nap adapted to be folded within the window opening of an automobile door, and a relativelyelongated rigid member of a Width less than half that of saidpad securedto the upper surface of. the. opposite rmarginal portion of the baselayer inspaced relation to the adjacent edge .Qfthepadand in vertical alignment therewith, .saidmember adapted tov abut the bottom side of the automobile. doorito which the assembly is applied and serve as a load supporting member for the automobile door.

v.MICHAEL P. WILLIAMS.

,ReferencessCitediin thefile of this patent UNITED STIFATES'PATENTS Number Name Date 1,601,547 Wofford Sept. 28, 1926 1,792,627 Bowersock Feb. 17, 1931 2,085,955 Claghorn July 6, 1937 2,127,029 'Hermanson Aug. 16, 1938 

